Lifestyle

A Tent Embassy for the Arts with Steven Bailey

Political wildcard Steven Bailey is now taking on the ANU, planning to camp out at the ANU and single handedly re-establish the School of Humanities.

Senate Candidate Steven Bailey will be re-establishing a School of Humanities in at the ANU in front of the School of Art, Thursday 8th of August. A tent will be erected at 10:30am – 12pm, and Steven and his dog Bruce will man the tent and maybe deliver a few tutorials. All welcome.

‘Over the past decade students, academics and the wider Australian community have borne witness to the ANU’s systematic devastation of their capacity to afford to the next generation an adequate liberal arts education.’

‘I say to the administration of the Australian National University, enough! The time has come that ordinary people can no longer sit idly by and allow the administration of the ANU to continue the disestablishment of the humanities.’

‘We have seen restructure after restructure of entire humanities based faculties. We have seen the systematic casualization of almost the entire workforce, and now to learn that ANU will be phasing out tutorials in humanities subjects is the final straw. This move has ramifications far beyond those it directly affects – it threatens the ability of future generations to engage in an ever-changing world with creativity and humanity.’

It’s with sadness that I note that Labor and Liberal are completely absent on this issue.

What’s Your opinion?

I would like to make this point though – I am not saying that people with a liberal arts education are better than those without; I’m saying it should be available to everyone for the benefit of everyone.

And I don’t disagree. It should be available, but that availability probably shouldn’t be to the detriment of other faculties. I’m a big believer on things pulling their own weight as a bare minimum.

I do happen to have some inside information on this, and you may be amazed at the size of the chunk being pulled out of the Business and Science faculties, among others, to fund the humanities.

I want people to stand up for arts and education policy as tenaciously as Bob stands up for agriculture. A rich liberal arts education is a way of learning to love the world, and for science and commerce to succeed we need a creative and humanistic imagination at the helm. We need our decision makers not only to be lawyers and economists, but to love the world as well, that is, to have a rich liberal arts education.

Grimm said :

StevenBailey said :

I am aware of subjects being axed simply because they are not as profitable as they should be.

Unfortunately, it’s not just that they are not as profitable as they should be. The problem is that they are running at a huge loss, and actually swallowing up money being made by other faculties, who are in turn suffering budget cuts and shortages.

The humanities need to find a way to be at least self funding.

Grimm said :

StevenBailey said :

I am aware of subjects being axed simply because they are not as profitable as they should be.

Unfortunately, it’s not just that they are not as profitable as they should be. The problem is that they are running at a huge loss, and actually swallowing up money being made by other faculties, who are in turn suffering budget cuts and shortages.

The humanities need to find a way to be at least self funding.

Why? Should the public service find ways of funding itself? Should the police, the ADF, primary and secondary education fund itself? We all inherit a world full of ideas and art and music.
I don’t mean to put you on the spot Grimm, but it doesn’t have to work like that.
We have to decide what is important to us and then find models of funding that accommodate those priorities – not deciding on the funding model and then allowing that model to dictate to us our cultural integrity. There is an irony here: that to advocate an economic fundamentalism to dictate what we learn and what we don’t is to be bereft of the very imagination inherent in a rich liberal arts education.
I would like to make this point though – I am not saying that people with a liberal arts education are better than those without; I’m saying it should be available to everyone for the benefit of everyone.

I want people to stand up for arts and education policy as tenaciously as Bob stands up for agriculture. A rich liberal arts education is a way of learning to love the world, and for science and commerce to succeed we need a creative and humanistic imagination at the helm. We need our decision makers not only to be lawyers and economists, but to love the world as well, that is, to have a rich liberal arts education.

I like this thinking. Ever though of running in territory government? Better than the boring and uninspiring drones that we currently have running this place.

I am aware of subjects being axed simply because they are not as profitable as they should be.

Unfortunately, it’s not just that they are not as profitable as they should be. The problem is that they are running at a huge loss, and actually swallowing up money being made by other faculties, who are in turn suffering budget cuts and shortages.

I want people to stand up for arts and education policy as tenaciously as Bob stands up for agriculture. A rich liberal arts education is a way of learning to love the world, and for science and commerce to succeed we need a creative and humanistic imagination at the helm. We need our decision makers not only to be lawyers and economists, but to love the world as well, that is, to have a rich liberal arts education.

I like this thinking. Ever though of running in territory government? Better than the boring and uninspiring drones that we currently have running this place.

I want people to stand up for arts and education policy as tenaciously as Bob stands up for agriculture. A rich liberal arts education is a way of learning to love the world, and for science and commerce to succeed we need a creative and humanistic imagination at the helm. We need our decision makers not only to be lawyers and economists, but to love the world as well, that is, to have a rich liberal arts education.

However, at the risk of stirring a debate I wanted to ask – where does Mr Bailey think the ANU can find funding to do what he is requesting? Fiscal times for universities across Australia are very bleak indeed – money for the sector was already on the decline before the ALP decided to fund the Gonski reforms with funding previously given to tertiary establishments.

If Mr Bailey is successful in entering the Senate, is there anything he can do to realistically enable the ANU to “fix” the humanities?

The health of education and the arts (which are inextricably linked) is my number one priority. It only takes a bit of imagination to find ways for universities across the country to stop depleting their capacity to provide a rich liberal arts education. We all inherit a world full of music and art and ideas – The ANU can find ways to support arts classes that are less profitable. I am aware of subjects being axed simply because they are not as profitable as they should be. I was at the School of Music in 2004 and 2008 when we managed to fight off the calls to ruin the school and I was there last year when we finally lost that battle. We need to get out of the mindset that the foundation of tertiary education is an economic fundamentalism – primary and secondary education systems don’t work like this (well, not as much) and there is no reason for the tertiary system to work like this either. I want to make the major parties realise that this is important, and with a good foothold or control of the Senate all of this, and more, is possible.

However, at the risk of stirring a debate I wanted to ask – where does Mr Bailey think the ANU can find funding to do what he is requesting? Fiscal times for universities across Australia are very bleak indeed – money for the sector was already on the decline before the ALP decided to fund the Gonski reforms with funding previously given to tertiary establishments.

If Mr Bailey is successful in entering the Senate, is there anything he can do to realistically enable the ANU to “fix” the humanities?